The Need for Reform in Collegiate Sports

The Need for Reform in Collegiate Sports

The current institutional structure of intercollegiate athletics is attempting to maximize educational quality and athletic excellence simultaneously. Each of which will inevitably impinge on one another. Universities claim that their athletes are amateurs who are attending college for academic achievement and play sports in their free time.

This is an impossible task for anybody. Higher education has entered the arena of big business with its athletic programs and with it many problems have emerged for coaches, athletes, and the athletic system itself. There is systematic corruption. Exploitation and hypocrisy are givens in college athletics. Athletic personnel are mistakenly given the responsibility for academic integrity of student athletes. With this responsibility emerges at best indifference and at worst complicate the corruption in college athletics. There is a huge demand for reform. The critics argue the issue of amateurism versus professionalism in college athletics. They also disagree on the means in which reform should be instigated. Many look towards the government for answers while the NCAA would like to regulate itself. There needs to be resolution somewhere because the integrity of sports is in jeopardy.

College athletes are expected to combine their athletic dreams with academic endeavors. Many athletes use college as a stepping-stone into professional leagues. College is simply a means to their athletic career. Charles Reed, a chancellor for Florida State, feels that the purpose for education is being lost to these individuals. Universities primary existence is due to an academic mission, not athletic entertainment. However, athletes are expected to practice 30 hours a week, attend at the minimum 12 hours of class, do homework, study for exams, travel to out of town games, and have some kind of a social life. To meet the needs of athletes, universities have lowered their academic standards and programs. Athletes are often clustered into classes that they have the best chance of passing. The goal of striving towards academic integrity has shifted from the best education to the easiest one. Raymie McKerrow, a professor, seems to think this is not all negative. She says that sports are an educational entity in their own right.

Sports teach, “enduring values of challenge and response, teamwo...

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...the state graduate with me from high school, but he did not attend college. He couldn’t read or write. Even at the high school level teachers and coaches were shuffling him along to keep him eligible. This cannot be allowed. Teachers must be held accountable. Shannon Brownlee also recognizes the failure of middle and high schools.

I agree with Tom McMillen that the NCAA cannot regulate itself. It has been trying for years, but nothing ever seems to truly change. The NCAA has proposed strong bills such as Proposition 8 and then passed a weaker version. They passed regulations that limit summer play for football and then schedule a Pigskin Classic for August. They say that they are in favor of academia, but slate games across the country in the middle of the school week. I feel that they are hypocritical in their actions and become part of the problem.

There is very little research on actual reform programs. Those that have been implemented are on paper only. This is not a new idea, but the amount of money and popularity generated by this enterprise has overshadowed any progress. The only test for current reforms lies in the future. Only time can tell what that will hold.